sub do_sql
{
    my $this = shift;
    my $sql = shift || return;

    my $dbh = $this->get_db_connection();
    eval {
        if ( $sql =~ /^select/i ) {
            $this->log_internal_notice("executing sql query: $sql");
            my $sth = $dbh->prepare( $sql );
            my $nmb = $sth->execute();

            $this->log_internal_notice(
                $nmb == 1
                ?   "1 result"
                :   "$nmb results"
            );

            return $sth;
        }
        else {
            $this->log_notice("executing non-select sql: $sql");
            return $dbh->do( $sql );
        }
    };
    if ( $@ ) {
        $this->log_warning("Caught exception executing sql: $@");
        return;
    }
}

##</code><code>##

    my $sth = $my_module_object->do_sql( $sql ) ||
        return "<p><i>There are currently no experiment steps in this experiment</i></p>";